Brad Childress looks at the teams remaining in the NFL playoffs, and the Vikings coach believes that when his team played its best football, it could compete with any other team in the league.

Looking back at the 26-14 first-round playoff loss to the Eagles, the Vikings went into the game without the best linebacker in the league in E.J. Henderson, a Pro Bowl defensive tackle in Pat Williams and a starting defensive end in Ray Edwards. Then, during the game, they lost safety Darren Sharper to injury in the first half.

And despite a very average performance by quarterback Tarvaris Jackson, the Vikings stayed in contention until the fourth quarter.

Give the Vikings a healthy group of defensive players, and without a doubt they will have the best defense in the league.

As for the quarterback, the Wilf family, owners of the team, are determined to strengthen the position, and as team has salary cap room, they will spend the money to make a move.

Childress calls quarterback the toughest position to play.

"There's a competitiveness, the quickness, the decision-making, and it's rarely the case -- I can think of a guy like a Dan Marino, who came in and was a sensation in his rookie year -- it really is an evolution at that position," Childress said. "For some guys it takes a year, two years, three years, four years. You look at guys like Jake Delhomme and Kurt Warner. Some of the better guys, it just takes a while. Look at a guy like Rich Gannon. Rich Gannon was out of football for a year ... [sometimes] it takes a while to develop."

Troy Aikman and Peyton Manning are two examples of Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks who got off to rough starts in their NFL careers. Manning went 3-13 his first season but has gone on to win three NFL MVP awards.

"That's a tough way to go, that's the Peyton Manning way to go," Childress said. "But, there's no exact way to mold a quarterback. ... It's that steady build in maturity, and if the guy's got the skill set, you hope you can get that out of him."

Childress said that if you look around the league and see the many veterans starting at quarterback, they are not growing on trees, for sure.

"You take every method you have: You look through rosters; you look through free agency; you look through the draft," he said. "And you see if there's somebody that you feel like has got the aptitude. Still, you draft people to play professional football, you still have to do some development of some talent.

"There is, and you know what you see those guys, it happens everywhere. Matt Cassel wasn't a starter at USC. Guys who were taken in the same round as Tarvaris, [Matt] Leinart was taken as the 12th pick in the draft, Vince Young [was taken third] ... [they] have yet to realize their full potential. So, I think those are good case and points to what I'm talking about.

Neither Leinart nor Young are starters anymore, with Leinart having been replaced by Warner in Arizona and Young replaced by Kerry Collins in Tennessee. "At least our guy [Jackson] is getting some training here and he's been moderately successful," Childress said.

Gus Frerotte did a good job for the Vikings, going 8-3 as a starter until he got hurt at Detroit. He has indicated that he doesn't want to come back unless he starts.

"Obviously he's a competitive guy, he wants the ball in his hand," Childress said. "I really wouldn't want him if he didn't want the ball in his hand. We'll talk about his family situation. It was hard for him to be away from his family, and I'm sure he's going to settle in here and try to figure out some things here in the next little while."

Look for the Vikings to make every effort to bring back Frerotte, who is under contract for next season.

Big victory for U The Gophers men's basketball team continues to impress, with perhaps their most impressive victory of the season coming Thursday night when they came back from 14 points down to beat Wisconsin 78-74 in overtime at the Kohl Center.

The Gophers ended their 12-game losing streak at Wisconsin dating to Feb. 12, 1994, a 109-78 victory at the old Field House.

Yes, Tubby Smith's team is well on its way to an NCAA tournament berth. The Gophers are emerging as a Big Ten powerhouse, and perhaps if they keep it up they can possibly even contend for the conference championship.

Jottings Sam Maresh, the Champlin Park linebacker who had to sit out his freshman season following heart surgery last summer, passed the Gophers' physical recently and got a 100 percent clearance to play football from team doctors. Maresh will enroll in school this month and will be eligible to play in the fall.

School resumes next Tuesday, and Jeff Wills, a 6-7 tackle at Lackawanna College in Scranton, Pa., will begin class that day and be eligible for Gophers spring practice. As mentioned before, quarterback MarQueis Gray and linebacker Spencer Reeves, who didn't qualify academically last fall, also will start school Tuesday. Two transfers, offensive lineman Matt Carufel from Notre Dame and defensive back Kim Royston from Wisconsin, have been in school, and they will be eligible to practice this spring, too. As for players who couldn't get in to school, wide receiver Vince Hill wound up at Temple and defensive tackle Tim McGee at Memphis.

Visiting the campus this weekend will be receiver Bryant Allen of Maplewood, Mo., and running back Nick Rengel of Sartell, both of whom have committed to the Gophers. Also visiting are recruits who have not committed yet in defensive back Mike Edwards of Cleveland Glenville; linebacker Devin Guillory of Baton Rouge (La.) McKinley; and running back Ronnie Wingo of St. Louis University HS.

Jay Thomas, the Gophers halfback who didn't see much action last year, was an outstanding long jumper in high school at Tartan, and he will be a member of the Gophers track and field team as well as the football team this spring. ... Derek Storkel, the Wisconsin state champion cross-country runner from Tomah, is reportedly headed for the Gophers.

Jared Berggren, the 6-11 center from Princeton who was ranked as one of the best big men out of Minnesota last year, is redshirting this season for Wisconsin. Badgers coach Bo Ryan gives players the choice of taking a redshirt if they want to their freshman year.

Sid Hartman can be heard weekdays on WCCO AM-830 at 6:40, 7:40 and 8:40 a.m. and on his Podcast once a week at www.startribune.com/sidcast. shartman@startribune.com